An Efficient Implementation of the Rainflow Counting Algorithm for Life Consumption Estimation

Abstract

In many reliability design and model-based health management applications where load profiles are variable and unpredictable, it is desirable to have efficient cycle counting methods to identify equivalent full and half cycles within the irregular load profile. Conventional cycle-based lifetime models can then be applied directly to provide information about the life consumption of the products. The use of an off-line rainflow algorithm is a common solution for arbitrary loads, but it cannot be applied in real time in its original form. This paper presents an in-line coding algorithm which uses a stack-based implementation, and a recursive algorithm to pick out the equivalent full and half cycles of the irregular load profile. The method can be integrated easily within time-domain or serial data applications to generate equivalent full and half cycles as they occur. Thus it is of particular significance for life estimation in real-time applications where use of the traditional implementations of the counting algorithm is impractical. In comparison with the off-line traditional rainflow method, the on-line method doesn't require any knowledge of the time history of the load profile because it processes each minimum or maximum when it occurs. Therefore, it provides a more efficient cycle counting method using less memory storage, and making more efficient use of computational resources within the real-time environment.

Optimal Bidding Strategy of Battery Storage in Power Markets Considering Performance-Based Regulation and Battery Cycle Life

“…This DOD calculating approach is similar to the rainflow counting algorithm [23]. However, as the decision variables would affect the local extreme points on the energy curve and then the identification of the half cycle, extreme point picking should be conducted for each feasible bidding strategy to calculate the battery cycle life.…”

“…Regardless of the specific cycle life models, a rainflow counting algorithm is commonly used to calculate a battery's lifetime, as referenced in [13], [14], [22], and [23]. Most papers above apply this algorithm for static evaluation with fixed operating strategies.…”

Review of Power Semiconductor Device Reliability for Power Converters

“…It combines load reversals in a manner that defines a cycle as a closed hysteresis loop. Each closed hysteresis loop has a strain range and mean stress associated with it that can be compared with the constant amplitude [88]. Fig.…”

Improved reliability of single-phase PV inverters by limiting the maximum feed-in power

“…There are many cycle counting algorithms reported, e.g. level crossing counting, rain-flow counting, and simple range counting methods [13]- [15], [26], which can be used to appropriately interpret the thermal loading profile according to a dedicated lifetime model. Then, the lifetime can be calculated with the extracted information.…”

“…The values of those parameters and also the test conditions for an IGBT module are shown in Table I. According to the Miner's rule [12]- [15], the accumulated Life Consumption LC (i.e. damage to the device) is linearly dependent on the contributions from different temperature cycles, which can be expressed as,…”